Sparking igniter for explosive-engines.



No. 784,677. PATENTED MAR. 14, 1905. I. E. HINDMAN & J. J. ALBRIGHT. SPARKING IGNITER FOR BXPLOSIVE ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 16. 1904.

7 mm x [mm E 175W W (Jase/W? A lbr'g/i,

lill Fill ll Inventors Hctornegs UNITED STATES Patented March 14., 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

ISAIAH E. HINDMAN AND JOSEPH J. ALBRIGHT, OF COLUMBUS, GEORGIA, ASSIGNORS OF ONE-HALF TO JOHN F. EATHERS, OF COLUMBUS,

GEORGIA.

SPAR KING IGNITER FOR EXPLOSIVE-ENGINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 7'84=,677', dated March 14, 1905.

Application filed May 16, 1904. Serial No. 208.247.

To ft whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that We, ISAIAH E. HINDMAN and JosEPH J. ALBRIGHT, citizens of the United States, residing at Columbus, in the county of hIuscogee and State of Georgia, have invented a new and useful Sparking Igniter for Explosive-Engines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to sparking igniters for explosive-engines, and has for its object to provide an improved device of thischaracter capable of application to the different styles of explosive-engines now in common use without altering or changing the same in any manner whatsoever.

It is furthermore designed to obtain a highly-intensified spark, or, to be more accurate, to produce a flame with a minimum electric current and to provide for an adjustoff of sediment'by the action of the successive explosions of the gas.

With these and other objects in view the present invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described, shown in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that changes in the form, proportion, size, and minor details may be made within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the sparking igniter of the present invention fitted to the wall of the explosion-chamber of a gas-engine. Fig. 2 is an inner end view of the device. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of the inner terminal member. fied form of inner terminal. Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view of the sparking end of the outer terminal member.

Like characters of reference designate cor- Fig. 4 is a detail view of a n1odi- 5 responding parts in each and every figure of the drawings.

The present embodiment of this invention is in the nature of a plug and includes an outer tubular open-ended terminal member 1, which has its inner end portion externally screwthreaded, so as to fit within a screw-tlu-eaded opening in the wall 2 of the explosion-chamber of a gas-engine. The outer end of this member is enlarged, as at 3, and formed externally polygonal to constitute a wrench-seat 6 5 tions or flanges may be formed by a spiral or each fiange may be entirely separate from the other, either of which forms is equally effective in the operation of the device; but the spiral form is preferred, as it can be more readily and cheaply produced. the invention will be readily understood by reference to Fig. 5 of the drawings, wherein it will be noted that the spark-flanges are in the nature of a screw-threaded cut from the interior of the member 1. terminal member is the other terminal member, which comprises a metallic core or stem 6, which is snugly embraced throughout the greater portion of its intermediate length with This feature of So Vithin the outer At the inner end of the 70 a non-conducting sleeve or casing 7 of a size The ends of the stem or core are bare,

with suitable binding-screws 9, between which is held one end of a circuit-wire 10. The inner end of the stem or core is provided with an annular series of radial and longitudinallydisposed ribs or projections 11, which have knife-edges and lie within the space bounded by the annular spark projections 5 of the plug, thereby to produce a plurality of spark'points between each rib or blade 11 and the several annular flanges 5, across which the ribs extend. It will of course be understood that the ribs or projections 11 are separated by an annular inter-space from the annular projections or flanges 5 in order that sparks may be produced by the electric current escaping from the points of one of the members through the points of the other member. The electric circuit is of course completed through a circuitwire 12, which is connected to the wall of the combustion-chamber in any suitable or preferred manner. A tubular nut 13 embraces the outer end portion of the inner terminal member and engages the internally-screwthreaded outer end of the plug member, so as to hold the inner member rigidly within the outer member.

Among the advantages possessed by the present device it will be noted that the electric current escapes from pointed projections to other pointed projections, whereby the most effective sparking is obtained, as it is a wellestablished fact that electricity escapes more readily from a point or sharp edge to another point or sharp edge rather than between two flat surfaces or between a flat surface and a point. Moreover, as each blade or rib 11 crosses a plurality of the blades 5 electricity will escape from the blade at as many points as the number of flanges 5 which the blade crosses, thereby producing a great number of sparks in the annular space between the inner end of the inner terminal and the inner end of the outer terminal. By loosening the nut 13 the inner terminal may be rotatably shifted to bring the blades 11 opposite new points on the flanges 5, so as to secure an effective sparking when portions of the flanges have become worn by electrolytic action. It requires but a slight turning of the inner terminal to bring the blades opposite new points upon the flanges 5, and by increasing the rotatable adjustment of the inner terminal new portions of the blades 11 will be brought opposite the flanges 5, due to the inclination of the latter, which are in the nature of screw-threads. It will now be understood that by adjustment of the inner terminal hitherto unused spark portions upon both terminals may be brought into use, whereby the life of the device is materially increased, and the adjustment may be readily accomplished without removing the device from the engine and without requiring any adjustment of any of the parts of the engine.

It will be noted that the inner end of the inner terminal member lies at or within the inner extremity of the plug member, and as the latter need not be projected beyond the inner face of the combustion-chamber there are no portions of the igniter projected into the chamher and liable to become damaged by any parts of the engine which may become detached or loosened withinthe combustionchamber. Another important feature resides in the fact that the annular space within the inner end of the plug member constitutes a relativelysmall combustion-chamber wherein an initial explosion of gas is effected by the annular series of sparks, thereby producing a flame of greater magnitude and intensity than the sparks alone, which flame in turn produces a more effective explosion of the gas in the explosion-chamber proper than is effected when the usual comparatively small spark is made directly in the large explosion-chamber. In this connection it will be understood that the electric spark is made up of a plurality of sparks radiating from the inner terminal member, thereby producing a composite spark of great intensity, to which is added the initial explosion, which results in a flame of considerable magnitude for igniting the gas within the main explosive-chamber of the engine.

The total number of radial sparks may be increased by increasing the number of radial blades 11 and annular blades or flanges 5, and the blades 11 may be straight, as shown in Fig. 4: of the drawings, or of corrugated shape, as indicated in Fig. 3.

In view of the fact that accumulations of grease or other matter cannot collect to any appreciable extent upon the sharp edges of the parts 5 and 11, but will drop down into the annular chamber around the inner end of the inner terminal, from which it will be displaced by the force of the successive explosions, the present device is self-cleaning. To facilitate this self-cleaning feature, the inner terminal 6 is provided with an annular series of longitudinal clearance grooves or channels 14, which lead to the spaces between the projections 11 and increase in depth from their inner ends outwardly for the purpose of collecting grease or other sediment and leading the same outwardly between the projections or blades.

Having thus described the construction and operation of our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. .A sparking igniter having one element provided with a series of annular flanges constituting spark-terminals,and a second element provided with a longitudinal series of flanges constituting opposing spark-terminals, the last-mentioned flanges being transversely disposed aeross the first-mentioned flanges.

2. A sparking igniter having a tubular element provided with a series of inner annular flanges constituting spark-terminals, and an inner element provided with a longitudinal series of flanges constituting opposingsparkterminals disposed transversely across the first-mentioned flanges.

3. A sparking igniter having an element provided with a plurality of flanges constituting spark-terminals,and a second element provided with flanges constituting spark-terminals disposed at an angle across the flanges of the first-mentioned element.

4. A sparking igniter having one element provided with a series of flanges constituting spark-terminals,and another element provided with flangesdisposed at an angle across the flanges of the first-mentioned element and constituting spark-terminals, one of the elements being adjustable to bring unused portions of the flanges opposite one another.

5. A sparking igniter comprising a tubular element provided with a series of inner annular flanges constituting spark-terminals, and another element within the tubular element and provided with an annular series of longitudinal flanges constituting opposing spark-terminals disposed above and transversely across the first-mentioned flanges, one of these elements being rotatably adjustable to bring unused portions of the flanges opposite one another.

6. A sparking igniter comprising a tubular element, and another element within the tubular element, one of these elements having a series of annular flanges constituting spark-terminals, and the other element having an annular series of longitudinal flanges crossing the annular flanges and constituting opposing spark-terminals.

7. A sparking igniter having a tubular element provided with an inner annular shoulder, and another element located within the tubular element and having a stem provided with an intermediate non-conducting covering having an annular shoulder for engagement with the annular shoulder of the tubular element, the outer end of the stem having means for connection with acircuitwire, one of the elements being provided with a series of annularflanges constitutingspark-terminals and the other element having an annular series of longitudinal flanges extending across the first-mentioned flanges and constituting opposing spark-terminals, and means to retain the inner element within the outer element.

8. A sparking igniter having a tubular element provided with a series of annular flanges located at its inner end and constituting sparkand means to retain the inner element within the outer element.

9. A sparking igniter comprising an outer tubular element which is externally threaded and has an annular polygonal portion to form a wrench-seat, the interior of the element having an annular shoulder and a series of annular flanges constituting spark-terminals, an inner element comprising a stem provided at one end with means for connection with a circuit-wire and at its opposite end with an annular series of substantially radial flanges disposed across the flanges of the outer member and constitutingopposingspark-terminals,aninsulatingcovering for the intermediate portion of the stem and provided with an annular shoulder engaging the inner shoulder of the outer element, and a nut carried by the outer element and engaging the flange of the covering to retain the innerelement within the outer element.

10. A sparking igniter having one element provided with a spiral flange constituting spark-terminals, and a second element provided with a longitudinal series of flanges constituting opposing spark-terminals and disposed transversely across the spiral flange, one of the elements being rotatable to bring unused portions of the flanges into use.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our own we have hereto aflixed our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

ISAIAH E. HINDMAN. JOSEPH J. ALBRIGHT.

Vitnesses:

L. R. lVEA'rHERs, ERNEST L. HILL. 

